Agenda item

The Committee is asked to consider recommendations from the meeting of the Environment Committee held on 19 September 2024 as set out below:

o   Minute 217 [Two-Hour Town Centre Parking Schemes] – the minutes from the meeting of the Environment Committee are attached. A report from the Director of Growth is also attached confirming the recommendations that the Committee needs to consider.

o   Minute 223 [Q1 Performance Report for the Key Performance Indicators [KPIs] which form part of the Council’s Vision 2022-2026] – this recommendation will be dealt with under Item 10 – Key Performance Indicators Report].

The Committee received the minutes from the meeting of the Environment Committee held on 19 September 2024. The Chair drew Members’ attention to the first set of recommendations at Minute 217 [Two-Hour Town Centre Parking Schemes]. Members were also alerted to a report from the Director of Growth accompanying the two recommendations.

The Chair invited the Group Head of Technical Services to present this report. He provided the background to this item explaining that back in September 2023, the Environment Committee had established a Working Party to review and make recommendations on the future of the 2-hour free parking schemes in Littlehampton and Bognor Regis.  That Working Party had met on several occasions and had formed recommendations which were considered by the Environment Committee at its meeting held on 19 September 2024. These recommendations had been set out within Paragraph 4.2 of the report. The Environment Committee resolved to agree recommendations a, b and d with amendments being made to recommendation c with a further three additional recommendations being made, as outlined below:

a.  authority be delegated to the Group Head of Technical Services to implement a single  2-hour free town centre parking disc scheme to incorporate both Littlehampton and Bognor Regis, with the scheme to be administered in both Littlehampton and Bognor Regis by Arun District Council;

b.            differential pricing be agreed for virtual and physical parking discs, whereby the virtual parking disc is cheaper than the physical counterpart to encourage transition to the virtual scheme;

c.  the retail price points for both the virtual and physical parking discs for 2025 from the options in 4.19 be agreed, with the retail price for the virtual disc being £4 and £6 for the physical disc;

d.  authority be delegated to the Group Head of Technical Services to make any necessary changes to the Council’s Parking Orders and to take any other actions necessary to enable the scheme to take effect; and

e.  card discs should be supplied to traders on a strictly sale or return basis.

The Committee also recommended to the Policy & Finance Committee that:

f.   the retail price point (set out in c above) should be fixed for a period of three years; and

g.  the clause to use the disc and app only once per day should be removed.

The Group Head of Technical Services explained the financial implications for the Council if the two recommendations from the Environment Committee were to be accepted by this Committee.  Firstly, he explained the financial impact resulting from resolution c above. The table at Paragraph 4.4 of the report illustrated that the adjustment in pricing for the physical discs from £10 to £6 would have a detrimental effect on the level of revenue the Council generated via disc sales. 

The impact of this change agreed by the Environment Committee was estimated to be a loss of £123,200. Turning to the two recommendations that the Committee needed to consider, the first, if agreed, would pose serious financial challenges as it would eliminate the Council’s ability to increase the price of discs in line with inflation. At the same time, the cost to produce and administer the physical parking discs would increase annually, with the Council having no flexibility to adapt to these appreciations.  This meant that the Council would see a reduction of income from sales of both the physical and virtual discs making it more challenging for it to achieve a balanced budget.

The second recommendation was asking the Committee to remove the clause to use the disc and app only once per day resulting in anyone with a disc or using the app being able to park all day everyday free of charge. This would have a significant detrimental impact on the £370,209 revenue generated by the Council within those car parks as there would be little incentive for motorists to park elsewhere. At the same time, it would have a similar impact on the revenue generated by neighbouring town centre car parks. The severity of the financial consequences had been illustrated within the report and were reinforced by the Group Head of Technical Services.

Councillor Stanley then proposed the recommendations which were seconded by Councillor Huntley.

The Chair invited debate. There was a strong argument presented to not accept recommendation f with Councillors referring to the Council’s Finance Strategy and the need for the Council to have flexibility and be able to increase revenue in a reasonable way when it could.

In considering recommendation g, Officers were asked what the implications would be if the once per day usage stipulation was removed and how would the Council be able to enforce usage. The Group Head of Technical Services confirmed that removal of the once per day stipulation was enforceable but that putting into place measures to ensure effective enforcement for the disc would be very expensive and would increase the cost to the council as revenue would be massively impacted.

Discussion then focused on some of the recommendations approved by the Environment Committee and questions were asked as to why these had not been presented to the Policy & Finance Committee as they had financial consequence. Concern was also expressed that the Environment Committee had established a Working Party to undertake this work but had then rejected that Working Party’s recommendations which had been disappointing and had put into question why the Working Party had been established.

Following further debate, the Chair then turned to voting on the two recommendations which was undertaken separately.

The Committee

            RESOLVED - That

(1)  The retail price point (set out in recommendation c agreed by the Environment Committee) should not be fixed for a period of three years; and

(2)  The clause to use the disc and app only once per day should remain.

 The Chair then alerted the Committee to the next recommendation at Minute 223 [Quarter 1 Performance Report for the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) which formed part of the Council’s Vision 2022-2026]. He confirmed that as there were similar recommendations from other Service Committees, this recommendation would be considered as part of Agenda Item 10.